


Can't leave it behind

by peregrinning



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 14:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10219829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peregrinning/pseuds/peregrinning
Summary: Disappointing news about a court case brings Cormoran and Robin to a pub, a drink, and a kiss in a moment of heightened feelings. In the aftermath, they struggle with a changed working relationship and a decision to make about where to go next.





	1. Chapter One

Cormoran was just heading back to the office after finishing up an afternoon tailing Mrs Ellington for her husband. Following ladies of leisure for their suspicious husbands was just as boring as it had always been, but at least now the clients were richer and able to pay him more for the task. The weather was pleasant but he could hardly appreciate it as he was waiting anxiously for a text from Wardle. 

As he neared the Tube station his phone dinged and he quickly pulled it from his pocket and opened the text. _Sorry Strike - he got off. Technicality. Evidence improperly collected. Not you, the police. Fuck ups all around - Wardle._

Feeling increasingly grim, he scanned his train ticket and walked down to the platform. He wondered if he would have to pass on the news to Robin, or if Wardle had done so already, and how he should tell her if the task fell to him. If only she wouldn’t get herself so emotionally involved in these cases…but on the other hand, it was precisely that empathy of hers that made her so good at gaining people’s trust, having them give her information they would never in a thousand years pass on to him or the cops.

Still ruminating on this conundrum as he found a seat on the train, his thoughts were interrupted when his phone went off for a second time. His heart sank as he read the text from Robin. _Just heard the bad news from Wardle. I had come back to the office to finish up some paperwork but I think I’m going to go down to the Arms and have a drink. I’ll see you tomorrow._

 _Robin’s a fool if she thinks I’ll just leave her alone and upset in a pub_ , he thought to himself. But he could join her, that was fine, he was done with work for the day. And he could do with a pint of something dark and cold himself.

 

When he reached the Arms, it was cool and dim inside. They hadn’t yet turned the lights on in the front room but the brightness of midday was long gone. He found Robin sitting in a corner booth with some sort of highball drink in front of her, absently folding and unfolding a paper serviette. He ordered himself a pint as quickly as he could before making his way over to her. She’d looked up and seen him as he came in, and now watched him make his way over with slightly glittering eyes, perhaps unshed tears.

“Hey, Robin. I hope that’s your first drink," he said, sliding in next to her in the curved booth and taking the first cold sip of his beer.

She frowned at him. “It is. Get off your high horse, Cormoran. God, this sucks”.

“I know. Davies deserved to go away for what he did, but this is how it is sometimes. You win some and you lose some. I’ve seen people get off because of technicalities and fuck ups before. Or just because they had a good lawyer and the case wasn’t quite strong enough. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again”. He took a long pull of his drink, watching her face to see how she would respond.   

“You pretend like this doesn’t matter to you, but you are a liar, Strike”. She frowned at her drink and stirred it once with the straw before taking a sip.

He tried to consider what would be the kindest words to offer her would be. “It does matter to me. But it wasn’t our fault, Robin. We did everything right, I just don’t want you to make yourself miserable, taking on something that isn’t your fault at all”.

“I know, I know…but I just think about those poor people he conned…they lost so much”. To his horror, she covered her eyes with one hand and her voice trembled. “This has been such a shit few months. First it was Matthew, now this. Can I not have even one thing in my life that goes right?”.

He wanted to put his arm around her shoulders, but he could already smell the sweet perfume of her hair from here and knew it would be too much for him. He settled on clasping her nearest shoulder with one hand in what he hoped would be a bracing kind of way. But it was a mistake, because before he even knew what was happening, she turned to him, craned her head up, and kissed him.

Her mouth tasted of lemon and mint and he could feel soft, wet eyelashes brushing against his cheeks. His hand drifted halfway up, as if to cup the back of her head, before he came to his senses and pushed her away.

“Robin, stop. This is a bad idea”.

She looked at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t know-”. She suddenly stopped talking and just watched him, a slow flush creeping across her cheeks. She looked beautiful, like some girl in a poem with those tears making her eyes shine. He stood up abruptly, aware that if he sat there a moment longer he would kiss her again. “You should go home, right now. I can’t stay here with you but you should leave now and get home safe”.

“Cormoran, please,” she said, one hand reaching out towards him. He backed clumsily out of the booth as if her hand were a viper. “I’m leaving too," he said, “please Robin, just go home.”

“But I can come to work tomorrow?” she said, looking distressed.

“Yes, yes…just head straight to your assignment, like we arranged. Then I’ll…I’ll see you later," he said, feeling dazed. “Will you go home now?”

“I will. Can you please stop worrying? And you can forget about this, if you want. I’m sorry, again”.

Nodding, unable to speak, he turned and left her and his half-finished pint behind, wishing he could leave behind the feeling of her soft mouth just as easily.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin brings Cormoran a challenge after a few trying months after their kiss.

A knock came on his door in the early evening one October day. Robin pushed it open without waiting for a response and came in, leaning back on the edge of his desk, folding her arms and looking him square in the face. As always, he felt almost afraid of being in such a small room with her. Ever since she had kissed him in the Arms in the late summer he’d felt nervous around her, like at any moment he might slip up, gather her in his arms, lean down…and muck up everything worse than it already was. 

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Cormoran” she said. Something fierce was burning in her eyes and he almost couldn’t look at her. She’d been overworked lately, perhaps. Business was good and he hadn’t complained when cases kept them both out of the office, away from one another. 

“What’s up?” he asked, while trying to roll his chair back so that he didn’t have to look so far up at her, fierce and beautiful, towering above his seated form. 

“I’ve been thinking,” she said matter-of-factly, “about our kiss”. 

His heart fell into his stomach and he thought he could hear a fainting ringing in his ears. He wasn’t sure what she was going to say but he didn’t think there were any good options. He felt sure that they’d just mutually agreed, through an unspoken understanding, never to speak of it. 

“I know that the timing of it was terrible,” she continued, “that was rubbish, huge mistake. But the kiss itself, I don’t think that was a mistake. Because we both wanted it. We want something more, Cormoran”. 

“Robin, you know why that’s a bad idea," he said glumly. He thought she understood, as he did, that it didn’t matter how they felt. The business came before everything else. 

“No, I don’t actually. I thought I did, but I’ve gone through the arguments in my head a thousand times, and they just don’t hold up. A judge would throw the case out in a second”. 

He ran a hand grumpily over his prickly chin. “Robin, I’ve said this to you before and I’ll say it again; this is the best working relationship of my life”. He paused, and then added what he had not told her before, “I don’t want to jeopardise that”. 

She arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? The best working relationship of your life? It doesn’t feel that way anymore. You avoid me, we can’t even discuss cases, and our work is suffering. We work best together, Cormoran. And unless I’ve seriously misunderstood, we want to be together”. She flicked her hair back and looked at him challengingly. “I said at the time that you could forget about it, but I don’t think you’ve been able to. And neither have I”. 

“I just didn’t want to risk…what we had” he said sadly. “That’s the only reason I pushed you away”. 

Her expression softened. “I can understand that. But can’t you see? The working relationship, as it was…it couldn’t last. Not once we started developing feelings for one another, and please don’t pretend like we didn’t. And then all it takes is one moment of weakness and this was always going to happen. You and I, ending up here? It was in the cards all along”. 

He knew she was right. It had been only pretence that he cared for her simply as a colleague since…when? Too long, he was sure. 

“Then what do you want, Robin?” he asked, finally asking her something honest. 

Her face lit up. “I want you to go on a date with me. Dinner; I’ll buy, since I’m asking. You can bring a bottle of red that’s on sale” she added cheekily. “How about it?”

“Yes, all right," he said, a tangled mix of apprehension and excitement warring in his chest. “On Friday, after work?”

“Perfect," she said, “I’ve got somewhere in mind, nothing fancy, I’ll text you the address later, we can meet there”. She pushed herself up from where she’d been learning against the desk and turned to go. It would certainly be a triumphant exit, but he quickly rolled the chair forward and took her hand before she could leave. 

“Wait, Robin. Kiss me”. The words came out without any kind of conscious decision. He didn’t know what had made him say it right then, throughly outmanoeuvred as he had been, but she smiled, bent down to his level. Soft hair brushed over his shoulders, her mouth printing sweet promises against his. 

Then she sauntered out merrily. As he watched her go he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d chosen to wear that pencil skirt today intentionally. By god, that girl was sexy. 


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and Cormoran go out on their date.

They had dinner at a nice Turkish place about midway between their homes. He could hardly believe what a great time he had. It was so easy to talk to Robin; they joked about some of the real characters they had as clients and discussed politics, food, their families, travelling they’d done; time seemed to fly by. They’d kept extending their date by ordering dessert and then apple tea, but the time had really come to go home. 

He wanted to ask her to come home with him. She looked so beautiful, and towards the end of the bottle of wine her laughter had become husky, her voice soft, and all he could think about was how much he wanted to wrap himself up in her. As they stood on the pavement outside the restaurant, for the first time that evening things felt awkward. 

She was watching him with those clear eyes, waiting, perhaps, for him to say goodbye. “Will you come home with me?” he suddenly blurted out, feeling like nervous university student and probably sounding like an utter fool.

Robin let out that husky laugh again. “Thank god you asked. I was afraid you’d be too much of a gentleman to ask, but I didn’t really want it to be me again”. 

“Well,” he said sheepishly, “I would normally try to be more gentlemanly but…it’s not really like a normal first date, is it? We didn’t just meet”. 

“Exactly,” she smiled, and looped her arm through his, moving closer to him against the brisk night. 

“Should we take a taxi?” he asked. 

“No,” she replied, beaming up at him. “We’ve got all the time in the world”. 

They set off towards the Tube, her hand slipping down from his arm, their fingers tangling together, breath mixing in hot clouds in the cold air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter to sum up the story and see how their date went. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it even through it wasn't very plot-driven.


End file.
